An Ethical Analysis of Kardell Paper Company Decision
Executive Summery
The Board of directors of Kardell Paper Company should accept the installation of the new processing technology witch protects the environment by refining the company's waste water .Implementing this new technology will increase the company's long- term profitability and reputation by providing enough power and ability to compete and operate efficiently in the future market.
This ethical solution is offered, after analyzing Kardell's board of directors' decision to refuse the new technology due to its high turn over costs. The impacts of this decision on the company's primary stakeholders is studied carefully by using the 5-question ethical approach. The assessment has been made by comparing the profitability, legality, fairness and rightness of the company's decision and its impacts on major groups of stakeholders and their interests.
Introduction
The Kardell Paper Company (KPC) is a publicity traded company with good financial record and a profit of $1.7
million per year. Kardell's original mill which is not designed with accordance to high environmental protection standards, is located near the Riverside, a community of 22,000 residents.(Brooks 371) The local community has been suffering from an unusually high rate of miscarriages and respiratory disorders since 1985. Therefore,in the same year, a research has been done on the water sample of the river which showed high level of industrial chemical called sonox. Also,it was discovered that the plant lab failed to mention the high sonox level in its monthly report to the managers. However, after informing the CEO and the Board of Direcors, no serious action has been taken to solve this problem and proven the situation. They failed to undertake an appropriate environmental audit and even refused the possible solution of adopting a new technology to refine the company's waste water.(Brooks 372)
The Issues...